After the welcome ceremony and a safety briefing, the
shuttle and station crews will begin transferring cargo from
Discovery to the space station.

The arrival of Discovery`s crew doubled the number
of people at the space station from six to 12. The joint-crew
includes astronauts from the US, Italy and Russia.

The two space crews will spend the next seven days
working together to move cargo between their two vehicles.

Discovery`s arrival also marked a historic space
first: For the first time since construction began on the
International Space Station in 1998, spacecraft from four of
the five major partners (the space agencies of Russia, Japan,
Europe and the US) are docked at the orbiting laboratory.

The remaining partner, Canada`s space agency, does
not have station-visiting spacecraft, but it did build the
outpost`s robotic arm and Dextre maintenance robot.

Altogether, the docked spacecraft and space station
weigh 1.2 million pounds.

NASA and its partners hope to stage a space photo
session by cosmonauts flying around the station in a Soyuz
spacecraft if time allows during Discovery`s flight.

Before Discovery hooked up with the station, Lindsey
flew the shuttle to a point about 600 feet below the orbiting
laboratory and deftly guided the 100-ton spaceship through a
slow back flip.

As Discovery turned, astronauts inside the orbiting
lab took hundreds of high-resolution photos of the shuttle.

The images will be beamed back to Mission Control on
the ground so that teams can assess how the shuttle`s heat
shield fared during liftoff, ascent and the two days in orbit.

During launch, a camera on Discovery`s fuel tank
spotted four pieces of foam debris, some of which appeared to
strike the orbiter during its ascent, but NASA officials said
the impact should pose no problems for the spacecraft or its
crew.

A review of the photos taken of Discovery`s heat
shield will help them make a final call, NASA officials said.

Discovery is no stranger to the orbital flip
maneuver. In 2005, Discovery became the first space shuttle
ever to perform the maneuver during the STS-114 mission -
NASA`s first flight after the loss of shuttle Columbia and its
crew in 2003 due to heat shield damage.

The space flip and photo session have been a standard
part of shuttle missions ever since.

After the pre-docking flip, Lindsey pulled Discovery
in front of the station and slowly backed the shuttle into its
docking port.

Discovery, which will be retired later this year along
with the rest of the US shuttle fleet, is scheduled to return
to Earth on March 7.